KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Three teenage boys face robbery and burglary charges after allegedly holding up a northwest Knoxville convenience store on Wednesday. During the incident one of the teens was reportedly shot by the clerk, Joseph Lester Armes.

According to police, fifteen year-old Kane Varner; Jonathan Turner, 15; and Jacob Mitchell, 17, walked into the South Side Market on Maryville Pike around 10:45 a.m. wearing masks and bandanas. Once inside, one of the suspects allegedly pulled what-turned-out-to-be a hammer from a backpack. That's when, police say, Armes opened fire hitting Varner in the chest.

The teens tried running away toward the Montgomery Village housing projects on Cook Drive where they knocked on the door of Pamela Roark, asking for help.

"I was very shocked. I thought they were just joking with me. I didn't take them seriously until I went out there to check on the little boy. Sure enough he had been shot," she said.

He was lying feet from her door, holding his chest . "The boys told me it was a drive-by. They wouldn't tell me anything else, they wouldn't tell me what happened,' Roark added.

But their story didn't add up; Neither Roark nor the other neighbors we spoke with never heard any gunshots.

Turner and Mitchell were taken into custody, while Varner was taken to UT Medical Center. They each face two counts of Aggravated Robbery and one count of Burglary.

Knoxville Police Chief David Rousch said Armes did not have a handgun permit, but that the district attorney does not plan to press charges.